Tassie

That's such good news. Hopefully step 1 to Amber feeling lots better. (And you).

Arrgh Jules ... rock/hard place. Can get what you're saying about it being hard when she's looking chirpy, but on the other hand, probably better to operate when she's apparently feeling better .. hopefully recovery will be easier. Going to be a hard time .. thinking good thoughts for you and Amber, not forgetting Poppy.

You've been busy CK .. well done on the variety of great results. Wow your Rally titles are definitely hard to get.

Definitely agree with keeping the older ones going ... and just making appropriate modifications. When my 14 year old agility girl says she wants to join in, she gets to go search for thrown treats to keep her out of the way while I work Rory for a while, then I'll drop the jump heights for her (all 2 or 3 of them) and do a bit of handling and tunnels. The training sessions are short anyway. She still gives me her trademark High 10 after she's done a sequence. If he's doing obedience, she's not so pushy . not her thing :laugh: .. but she does like to do a bit of rally. Even on a walk, she'll be throwing me prancy heeling with a cheeky look on her face. Better to wear out than rust out, I reckon .. but keeping up the body awareness, conditioning, supplements etc.

Good thoughts coming your way SM. Sounds like you are making her feel very very special ... so hard for us .. but our comfort is that the pets don't know or worry about the future .. it's all about the now.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Little Gifts ... awesome post! So sorry about how it worked out for you and your sister.

Looking brighter is good .. but hey, come on Amber, give your mum a break and start doing some eating.

Really sorry to read this ... like the others .. I'd say treasure the time you have left .. and forbidden treats definitely sound like the go. I love the idea of getting the neighbours to say goodbye .. that will be super tough, but neighbours would be pleased to get the chance, I think. Strength to you.

sporti

Crate games rock!!! And snook ...you make such an important point. When a crate is just part of the available furniture, or a training opportunity as in crate games, then there is so much less stress in those situations where there is a need to crate and confine .. such as TSD's situations, or yours when Justice was recovering from surgery.

Naaww ... poor girls .... such a shame you need to hide from your 'pack' members. :laugh: And willem ... my boy does sometimes choose to sleep on the normal dog bed on the other side of my bed ... but ONLY because he can't get into his crate, because Kirra has made him get out of it ... just for devilment, but then she settles down and snoozes in there.

Not sure I can help at all, except to say that you're not on your own .. a lot of us have been in similar places - though not quite as heartbreaking as yours. There's heaps of non-judgmental cyber support here for you to vent/cry whenever you need to. Maybe some sort of little diary like westiemum was talking about ..good things - like eating, wanting to cuddle etc., able to toilet .. will give you indications of quality of life. And whether Buddy still wants to be around. Hugs and support to you.

Debating about whether to bother replying - think . But I really don't want other readers to think that this view is the only one. willem said . My 7.5 year old Border Collie would beg to disagree .. he has the option of sleeping anywhere in the house, including furniture, and my bed, but he chooses to sleep in his airline crate, beside my bed. It is totally his choice ... the door has not been shut on that crate for about 5 years, and in fact I took the door off about 2 years ago. Sometimes he gets bullied out of his crate when my 14 year old BC girl decides that she wants to sleep in there. Again, dog's choice.My dogs travel in wire crates in the SUV .. they have water and soft bedding in there, and on long trips, get toilet stops every two hours ... although they are capable of going longer. The big exception is when they travel across Bass Strait on Spirit of Tasmania ... then dogs are kennelled for approximately 12 hours. They have soft crates for travelling - the first things that go into our dog-friendly accommodation .. you can almost hear the visible sighs of relief when they see their crates. Again, doors are open, except at bedtime, when I do close them in to safeguard the property. Rory has his show trolley for use at shows and trials .. and if you ask him, he would definitely tell you it is his safe space, where he can relax. On odd occasions I have forgotten to fasten the door .. he stays in his crate. Willem is correct in saying that like all tools, crates can be abused. And if the dog has not been trained in the use of the crate, it can be problematic. With regard to toilet training .. many find it is comforting to both puppy and owner to have the puppy sleeping in a crate near the owner's bed ... then it is easy to hear when the puppy needs to go out, put a light leash on and take the puppy out to toilet, deliver the appropriate praise and then quietly put the puppy back in the crate with a little biscuit, to go back to sleep. The thing that convinces me most of all of the value of crate training, to the dogs as well as to us, is that we find that dogs, who are supposed to have difficulty generalising, seem to have no difficulty generalising the concept of 'comfy safe place' ... happily going into different kinds of crates without needing to be specifically trained to them. Maybe it's not technically a 'den' instinct, but it sure seems to work well for the dogs, whatever it is.

:laugh:

So pleased she is still improving. Such a fighter.. and so lucky in her mum.

I agree with Snook I third that! Good girlie Amber.

Thanks PME. What about the Gippsland 'Riviera' trials on the Queens Birthday weekend. We're coming over .. be great to see you. :D

Likewise - just catching up. So sorry she's been so poorly .. but eating chicken with baby food dressing sounds as though the a/bs might be kicking in and she's feeling a bit better. Do hope so. Can only begin to imagine how worries you are .. she's a pretty special survivor, thanks to your care, but as you say, uncharted waters.

Updating - two more Tasmanian Rally Masters titles ... lovely BC with his owner, agility judge and competitor Kendal Olsen finished hers on Saturday morning at beautiful Ulverstone, and my Rory followed up in the afternoon on Saturday having also passed in the morning. We were a bit ratty - my fault .. but we made it. Work was much better on Sunday .. my man did some beautiful work in UD (our judge thought so too .. not just me :laugh: , but had a couple of boy brain moments ... one was a totally new thing - first SD article, he couldn't find the pile to even start .. went off towards the other side of the ring - whether he thought he hadn't done his seekback yet .. who knows. The other one was the COP at the end of signals heeling ... we're struggling with that - this was walking forward in a puzzled way - last year on a lovely score, he dropped on judge's command. So back to the drawing board on that one.

Way to go little ninja -- she's on fire!!!

That's a lovely start, PME. Better than my first round with the Rory man .. he was so distracted I called it quits. But since then he's been Qing .. though only one super score .. a 97. Two more Qs for us in gale force wind (up to 89kmh) yesterday .. 91 and 93. I cost him points by having to retry stationary side step right ... I had a brain snap and did it before the sign, then halfway through it, thought .. think in new rules has to be after the sign, so called the retry .. thank goodness. We're enjoying Masters down here, but we're certainly having to work for it .. which is good :D. We have 5 under our belt now. Getting closer.

My thinking too. If she's going to be a performance pup, Secret may not be the best call name .. but it is a sweet name. Inky is a more useful name for things like agility and obedience .. short, hard consonant. Not going to be confused with cues starting with 's'.

They are just beautiful, and Seven looks pretty proud of them .. as she should be.

if you looking for a repellent: Advantix ...all the other ones administered as chews require that the ticks bite first and get poisoned while they suck...downside of Advantix is that it works only 2 weeks against ticks (4 weeks against fleas) and is a little bit messy to apply, especially for dogs with long coats. Does it really repels the ticks? ...since we use it she never had a tick, but obviously that's not a real scientific evidence. You could also look at collars, however, they are heavily loaded with chemicals and you have to make sure that the dog is not chewing on it. Just a warning ... please read the warning on the label and the product information . Advantix cannot be used on or around cats.

Not a judge ... perish the thought .....but in answer to your specific questions .. yes, you can give your signals down at the dog's eye level. And as for marking heeling, it's more a mater of deducting for errors .. although there are some specifics in the rule book .. such as failure to do a particular position at least once in a heeling round is an NQ. But different judges will score differently. I'd echo TSD's advice .. just try to engage with and focus on your dog, and be a great team mate. Oh, and practise walking straight lines and making nice angled turns .. really important with a small dog :D . Best wishes .. and whatever happens, make sure you write down the thing/s you were really happy with, as well as the things you need to work on.